Mysoreans can take pride in being the first in the country to be assigned Unique ID numbers. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) tested its mechanism in April-May across Mysore and Tumkur districts. Now that the Mysore district administration has an action plan in place, the UIDAI and Karnataka's e-governance department will allot Aadhaar, the 12-digit UID numbers, in October. UIDAI deputy director-general Ashok Dalwai on Wednesday said: ''The...

Maharashtra's deadline for the completion of the Unique Identification Number (UID) project seems to be escalating even as the Prime Minister is set to launch the project by the month-end from Nandurbar. In the last month, Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, had said during a function that the State will start issuing UID cards by November 1, 2010. But Anil Deshmukh, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection,...

When noted economist Jean Dreze visited Surguja in Chhattisgarh a decade ago, its utterly non-functional Public Distribution System (PDS) looked like especially “designed to fail.” The National Advisory Committee member has written in a recent article that the ration shop owners illegally sold the grain meant for the poor and “hunger haunted the land.” But that was then. The economist was pleasantly shocked to see the transformation this time. “Ten years...

A conflict has risen between the National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the rural development ministry over the time-frame for completing the BPL census. NAC members N C Saxena and Harsh Mander, in particular, want the head count to be completed by September 2011. The rural development ministry has ruled out the possibility of conducting the census of BPL cardholders within such a short duration. It...

What happens in open standards? All technology/software used for e-governance becomes inter-operable. In other words, any technology platform or software should be able to read government documents, maps, images and datasheets. Who gains? Government: Will not have to spend crores on a proprietary standard. Various offices would be able to access data without having same technology/software. Consumers: Will not have to buy proprietary software to access government documents Who loses? Big proprietary software companies and licensed...